Molecules 2015, 20, 7750-7771; doi:10.3390/molecules20057750 molecules ISSN 1420-3049 www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules Review Anti-Trypanosomal Activity of Nigerian Plants and Their Constituents Ngozi Justina Nwodo 1, *, Akachukwu Ibezim 1 , Fidele Ntie-Kang 2 , Michael Umale Adikwu 3 and Chika John Mbah 1 1 Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, University of Nigeria, Nsukka 410001; Nigeria; E-Mails: saintakaben@yahoo.com (A.I.); cjmbah123@yahoo.com (C.J.M.) 2 Department of Chemistry, Chemical and Bioactivity Information Centre, Faculty of Science, University of Buea, P.O. Box 63, Buea 00237, Cameroon; E-Mail: ntiekfidele@gmail.com 3 Department of Pharmaceutics, University of Nigeria, Nsukka 410001, Nigeria; E-Mail: adikwum@yahoo.com * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: nwodong@hotmail.com; Tel.: +234-806-295-5780. Academic Editor: Thomas J. Schmidt Received: 16 December 2014 / Accepted: 22 April 2015 / Published: 28 April 2015 Abstract: African trypanosomiasis is a vector-borne parasitic disease causing serious risks to the lives of about 60 million people and 48 million cattle globally. Nigerian medicinal plants are known to contain a large variety of chemical structures and some of the plant extracts have been screened for antitrypanosomal activity, in the search for potential new drugs against the illness. We surveyed the literatures on plants and plant-derived products with antitrypanosomal activity from Nigerian flora published from 1990 to 2014. About 90 plants were identified, with 54 compounds as potential active agents and presented by plant families in alphabetical order. This review indicates that the Nigerian flora may be suitable as a starting point in searching for new and more efficient trypanocidal molecules. Keywords: Nigeria; trypanosomiasis; medicinal plants; plant products OPEN ACCESS